Well, then maybe he should have said something to that effect. The problem with speaking in public is that people will actually hear what you say. If you don't intend to come across as flippant don't be flippant.

I should have verified that I guess, but it doesn't really matter either way. Brin is very visible as co-founder of Google and can expect his words to be quoted. And typically those quotes will come out in the worst possible way so when you make a public statement you try to do so in a way to minimize the possible damage.

The funny thing is Brin's response is in direct contrast to Gundotra's - both of whom were being interviewed at the same time.

Gundotra was diplomatic and used the question as an opportunity to brag about Google's culture of openness. Brin used it as an opportunity to either:

A - crack a badly worded joke

B - slam Yegge

One can only hope it was option A, though given the way it's worded I don't doubt there is some venom in there.

You can't argue that Amazon is kicking their asses in regards to AWS versus Google's App Engine. The lame joke I'm seeing here is GAE.

And I think Yegge has a good point - Facebook IS different for each individual because everybody has their own preferences in regards to how they use it and that's because while Google was making lame experiments with Buzz forcing Gmail users to use it, Facebook was busy becoming a platform.

And Android is popular not because it's a better / more polished product than iOS. It isn't, not by a long shot. Instead Android is a better platform.

Personally I loved Steve's rant and he nailed it.